Recent Posts

11

General Beekeeping / Re: Swarm Out of Reach

« Last post by The15thMember on April 12, 2024, 03:58:39 pm »

Well, we got managed to get the swarm down.  They were positioned differently this morning, with most of the cluster dangling over the ground, so my sister got out the pole saw and used that to shake them down onto a tarp, where I scooped them up into a hive.  It went pretty well, considering it was only in the low 50's F (low teens C), and partway through the process it became extremely windy and started raining.  (We've been having this weird weather for the past two days, where one minute it's storming and the next it's sunny, and we just mistimed our window a little bit.)  I'm pretty sure we got the queen, since there was a good bit of fanning at the entrance, and I'm really glad we got them down, because it was storming so badly after we went in that I think they would have been blown down from the tree.  I left the hive nearby to hopefully pick up as many stragglers as possible, since many bees were scattered around in the wind when we were knocking them down, but we did manage to get the overwhelming majority of them in the box. 

12

General Beekeeping / Re: Swarm Out of Reach

« Last post by iddee on April 11, 2024, 07:21:32 pm »

Use a strong string or cord tied to a weight. Throw it over the branch over them. Pull a rope over with the string and then pull the box up next to them with the rope and tie it off and hope.

13

General Beekeeping / Re: Swarm Out of Reach

« Last post by The15thMember on April 11, 2024, 04:10:49 pm »

I set up one medium in the apiary, bated with dark comb and LGO, and another one on top of the buck barn, which is about 4-5 feet off the ground and a decent ways away from the bee yard.  Maybe I'll get lucky and they'll pick one of those options.  I took a look at the swarm with binoculars, but no dancing that I could see.  The outer mantle of bees is in umbrella mode, everyone stationary with their wings open, and there are no more than five scouts flying around the cluster.  The rain has really picked up again.  Poor girls, this whole endeavor was just poorly planned. 

14

General Beekeeping / Re: Swarm Out of Reach

« Last post by The15thMember on April 11, 2024, 01:16:32 pm »

Here's some pictures.

15

General Beekeeping / Swarm Out of Reach

« Last post by The15thMember on April 11, 2024, 12:32:57 pm »

Well my luck finally ran out (after 5 years!), and I had a hive swarm and land up too far in a tree for me to reach them with a ladder.  I'm surprised they swarmed right now, because we are having on and off rain that is due to continue all day.  It took about 10 minutes for them to even decide where to settle because of the weather.  They picked the trunk of an old dogwood about 15-20 ft. off the ground, and they aren't hanging nicely, they are spread all down the trunk trying to stay out of the weather.  I'm thinking the rain may force a decision out of them quickly, so I'm going to set up a hive sort of like a swarm trap and see if they pick it.  Any other ideas about how to get them?  I'll post a picture of where they are when/if it stops raining.

16

Farm Livestock / Re: Baby Goats Anyone?

« Last post by The15thMember on April 09, 2024, 10:25:51 pm »

Here's some pictures of Beverly in the house today.  She finally took the bottle around suppertime, once Haley tried a new style of nipple.  This is the first time we've successfully bottle-fed a kid, so Haley is very pleased.  Bev will come inside tomorrow too, just to be sure she's got the bottle down, and then hopefully she'll be able to take one whenever it's needed. 

17

Farm Livestock / Re: Baby Goats Anyone?

« Last post by The15thMember on April 09, 2024, 04:57:38 pm »

We had our last batch of babies for this year born very early Monday morning.  Bella was the last doe this year, and it seemed like things were starting to get going late on Saturday night, so we were hoping that maybe for once we have kids born during the day on Sunday, but instead she kept us strung along until after 1:00 AM.  She had a white average sized buckling, a huge tan buckling (the biggest kid we've ever had), and a small tan doeling (the smallest kid we've ever had).  We are kind of on a Winter's Tale jag after naming one of Prim's kids Peter Lake, so we named them Pearly, Cecil, and Beverly.  Haley is worried about Bev being able to compete with the boys since she is so little, so she's been in the house all day trying to learn to take a bottle in the hopes that Haley can supplement her if need be.

18

Honey, Bee Forage; Nectar & Pollen Sources / Re: What blooms where and when

« Last post by Bakersdozen on April 09, 2024, 11:06:17 am »

3/31/24 66061: Ajuga aka Bugleweed

4/8/24 66061: mustard

19

Any and Every Thing / Teaching Apiary

« Last post by Bakersdozen on April 08, 2024, 10:39:20 am »

I spent Sunday afternoon at our local bee club's teaching apiary.  It was established through a grant from the Great Plains Master Beekeeping program.  We started last year with 4 colonies. This year the goal was to grow to 10. A dead out was given from a Veteran's Scholarship recipient that had to move out of state.  The donated woodenware with the split will be auctioned off in June to fund future scholarships. With 6 students observing, I helped my friends demonstrate package installation under extremely windy conditions. At times the wind could almost knock you over. Then we made two splits from 3 colonies.
I got some good pictures of entombed pollen. In the last few years entombed pollen has become something for us to be aware of.  It's stored pollen that is contaminated with pesticides. The bees are aware that it's contaminated, so they seal it off so it's never used. We have to rotate this out if there becomes too much of it on one frame.

20

Any and Every Thing / Package pick up promotion

« Last post by Bakersdozen on April 06, 2024, 11:20:48 am »

We have one beekeeping distributor in the Kansas City metro area. He has customers from both sides of the state line. He's a great guy and a wonderful ambassador for the honey bee. He asked our local bee club to be present during package pick up weekends in April. The purpose was to promote ongoing education.  We signed up for shifts and were prepared with Kansas and Missouri club information as well as both state wide organizations. Not surprisingly, some folks were picking up packages without any prior education or they were replacing deadouts, meant to join a club but never got around to it, and so forth.

The owner's right hand man (she's the one with the clip board) explained that they plan light the first weekend of package pick up.  That gets all the kinks worked out then they really do business the other three weekends in April. However, one man picked up 50 packages of bees while I was there.  All I could see was dollar signs! 






We were also asked a few questions, but you know beekeepers. We are always happy to talk about bees.  Surprisingly, a few people recognized me!